Not Just a Pretty Face
by dcj
Summary: ** Previously posted on LiveJournal** ONE SHOT ONLY - High School AU - His grip is firm but not too tight; it feels…right…safe


Here's another short one that was previously posted on LJ.

Okay, so **MD14** had been doing some ficlets over on Tumblr. A bunch of us were offering up some suggestions for a couple of requests she received...and when I offered this idea up, she suggested that I take it on because it seemed like it was writing itself. I, of course, scoffed but then woke up the next morning with the idea in my head and it wouldn't go away...so here we go...

It feels a little she did this, then he did that, but hopefully not too bad for my first go after a long hiatus.

As always, I do not own anything Rookie Blue

The prompt: Sam and Andy High School AU

* * *

Andy drops the bag of laundry in the front entryway before she pulls the hood up over her head and darts out the door. If she's lucky, she'll be home in time to get it over to the Laundromat and be back before dark.

If she was really lucky though, her dad would have fixed the damn thing already.

Yeah…lucky is not a word she would use to describe her life right now.

The school's only a few blocks away so she's barely winded by the time she tugs on one of the big double doors. She catches a glimpse of her reflection in the glass and groans. She looks exactly like she feels.

And if her washing machine trouble wasn't bad enough, for three days, her dad has been promising to take a look at their one and only shower to see if there's anything he can do to save it. But just like the two nights previous, Andy fell asleep on the sofa yesterday waiting for him to get home. The phone was what got her up at 2:00am… and she finally poured him into bed at three.

She looks up at the clock at the end of the hallway – 7:55am.

She tugs her hood off before taking hold of her ponytail, separating it into two halves and pulling it tight. As she runs her hand over her head, she hopes it doesn't look as greasy as it feels. She sniffs at the clothes she pulled from the bag this morning, but the perfume she sprayed on them seems to have done the trick.

She takes a deep breath before she slides into the classroom and signs her name at the bottom of the list. Thankfully there's only one other name on there. And when she looks to the far corner of the room, she's pretty sure the guy's asleep, knows for a fact he sees everything through a haze anyway so she figures he won't be giving her too much trouble, if he even notices her there.

She pulls the book out of her backpack and drops down into a desk at the front of the room, briefly wondering where the supervising teacher might be.

She reaches back in and tugs a few sheets of loose paper out and then roots around for a pen. She picks up the book and looks at the worn cover like it might offer her some sort of divine inspiration, but of course it doesn't. She flips to the bookmarked page and tries to gauge how long it might take her to actually finish reading the rest of it; she's started and stopped so many times but these past two weeks have been…trying.

She's barely through her first paragraph, when she feels someone slide into the seat beside her.

When she looks up, she meets the deepest pair of brown eyes she has ever seen, has to blink her own a few times before she gets lost in them. She drops her gaze down to her desk as she tries to come up with something to do or say that won't make her look awkward.

Thankfully, he saves her the trouble. "What'd ya do?"

"Huh?"

Her new companion twirls his hands around the room. "Saturday detention? You must have done something."

Andy huffs out a loud breath. "It's more like what I didn't do."

Two bushy eyebrows furrow together as he waits for her to elaborate.

She plucks the well-worn copy of Moby Dick off the desk and waves it up in the air. "Book report." She announces, shoulders jumping up into a shrug. "It was due yesterday."

She leaves it at that though. He doesn't need to know that she's spent the last week and change trying to keep what's left of her family and her home from falling apart.

She watches as he nods in understanding, and Andy swears that he somehow knows everything she didn't say.

He's only been at the school a few weeks. She's heard the rumors about a foster family, a couple of fights, and some stolen car parts, but there's something about him that puts her at ease.

She offers him a soft smile just as he pulls his eyes away. She returns her own to the book; she knows what it's like to not want anyone to look too close…see too much.

"Good book," he offers after a couple of seconds.

She tries to hide her surprise but she's pretty sure he sees when her brows jump a little.

"What?" He wonders. And Andy worries that she may have offended him, until he adds, "I'm not just a pretty face; you know?"

Her laugh echoes across the room before she can even think about holding it in. She shakes her head and then chuckles a little more to herself; _that felt really good_.

She watches as he tucks his tongue into his cheek and she can't resist taunting him back a little. "Oh yeah?"

He leans across his desk to get a little closer and Andy rubs at the base of her neck, certain the temperature in the room has to have jumped about thirty degrees. He looks right into her eyes. "Yeah," he repeats, starts listing things off to prove his point a little. "I'm an excellent driver…I'm good with tools..." He blows out a slow breath. "I'm Sam."

Andy squares her shoulders a little, thrusts her hand out in front of her just like her dad taught her. Sam's got his tongue stuck back in his cheek, but it doesn't take him long to extend his own hand out to her.

His grip is firm but not too tight; it feels…right…safe.

"Andy….McNally," she announces but makes no move to let go of his hand.

"McNally," he drawls, and the word practically drips off of his tongue.

Andy's tongue swipes out of its own accord and she giggles a little when she hears them both swallow hard.

"I like to read too," he admits a little sheepishly.

"I do too," Andy agrees quickly, her heart rate picking up a little at finding something they might have in common, "it's just…"

She's still holding onto his hand and there's this connection and… she can't believe she just about told some stranger her story. She slides her hand free of his, drops her eyes down to her feet while she tries find another way to finish that sentence.

"What have you got so far?" She hears him ask. When she looks back up at him, she gets that feeling again…the one where she just knows that he knows.

She lets out the breath she's been holding and holds up the piece of paper and there's only one sentence written on it. "Captain Ahab liked to fish."

Sam laughs loud and two deep dimples dig their way into his cheeks. And she just can't make herself feel offended because he's just … _Sam._

Her heart is racing in her chest and she really has no idea what to do or say, but she doesn't want him to think she's a dork so she tries to think of something. But again, Sam saves her the trouble. He just reaches over and grabs the side of her desk and pulls her right in beside his. "Let's see what we can do about filling that paper shall we?"

Andy grins big back at him but all she can do is nod. She doesn't trust that her voice won't betray every single thought she has in her head right now because not one of them has anything to do with book reports and white whales.

* * *

Three hours later and Andy has two full pages of writing and a grin that still won't go away.

She stands up and checks the clock on the wall, can't believe that much time has passed. "How long until **you're** out of here?" She wonders.

"Huh?"

Andy waves **her** hand around the room this time. "Saturday? Detention? How long do you have to be here?"

Sam rubs his hand nervously along the back of his neck. What Andy doesn't know is that Sam isn't there for detention. He's actually come by to grab some books from the library. But when he saw her in the room on his way by, well… he'd seen her in the hall a few times before, maybe watched her dash into her class at the last minute a few times too, might have even seen her making her way out of a cab when it was way too late for either of them to be out on the street, and he just… he wants to know her story.

He looks down at his watch, tries to cover his tracks a little. "I'm good to go too," he announces standing up and falling into step beside her as she heads for the exit.

He chuckles a little when they both get caught up in the doorway trying to get through at the same time. He finally waves her ahead but almost runs into her again when she stops cold. "I, uh, just need to drop this off for Mr. Brady, so uh…"

She holds her breath for a second, kind of hopes that maybe he might be willing to wait for her, might be walking in the same direction…

Thankfully, Sam's not really ready to let her go either. "I could wait," he suggests, "Do you, uh, need a ride home? Maybe wanna go and get…"

Andy's laces her fingers into his, tugs him along as she starts backing down the hallway towards the teacher's lounge; her eyes start to light up a little as she considers his offer. "What do you know about plumbing?"


End file.
